1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the containment of fluids.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Problems may arise in connection with the containment of fluids which have a deleterious effect on the materials of construction of the containing vessel by reason of, for example, the reaction of the fluid, or of a constituent therein, with the material of construction of the containing vessel, the deposition of a solid from the fluid onto the wall of the containing vessel, or changes which may occur in the material of the containing vessel by reason of the fluid having either a sufficiently low temperature or a sufficiently high temperature to cause breakdown of the walls of the containing vessel by, for example, melting.
One method of overcoming the above problem is to reduce the contact between a first such fluid and the walls of the containing vessel by use of a permeable wall member through which an auxiliary fluid is passed into said vessel.
The material of construction of the permeable wall member may be permeable amorphous carbon, or graphite, or may be a metal or a refractory ceramic foam with continuous interconnecting pores. Such materials may be expensive and difficult to fabricate, and, particularly in the case of a refractory ceramic foamed structure, may be very sensitive to either thermal or physical shock. Such difficulties have limited the application of this technique of fluid containment.